LIPID-METABOLISM ALTERATIONS IN NORMOTENSIVE SUBJECTS WITH POSITIVE FAMILY HISTORY OF HYPERTENSION

Metabolic abnormalities are usually reported in hypertensive patients. These metabolic alterations seem to begin in childhood. The young off spring of hypertensive parents have not been studied thoroughly for me tabolic alterations. The aim of this study was to examine the level of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, VLDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol , uric acid, glycemia, aldosterone, and plasma renin activity in a pop ulation of 42 young, slender normotensive subjects with positive famil y history of hypertension (FH+) or negative family history of hyperten sion (FH-). Measurements were made in 20 young normotensive subjects ( age 21.1 +/- 2.2 years, 11 males, 15 white, 5 oriental, body mass inde x of 22.1 +/- 2.3 kg/m(2)) with FH+ and 22 young normotensive subjects (age 19.9 +/- 1.4 years, 17 males, 17 white, 5 oriental, body mass in dex of 22.1 +/- 2.3 kg/m(2)) with FH-. The total cholesterol (4.47 +/- 0.8 versus 3.95 +/- 0.6 mmol/L), LDL cholesterol (2.74 +/- 0.63 versu s 2.36 +/- 0.61 mmol/L), VLDL cholesterol (0.5 +/- 0.25 versus 0.35 +/ - 0.09 mmol/L), and triglycerides (2.52 +/- 1.26 versus 1.76 +/- 0.5 m mol/L) were significantly elevated (P < .05) in the FH+ group compared with the FH-group. The total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio was si gnificantly higher in the group with a positive family history of hype rtension (3.75 +/- 0.02 versus 3.11 +/- 0.02, P < .05). Glycemia was s lightly elevated in the FH+ group (2.16 +/- 0.29 mmol/L) but was not s ignificantly different from that of the FH-group (2 +/- 0.2 mmol/L). U ric acid, plasma renin activity, and aldosterone were similar in both groups. We conclude that young, slender normotensive subjects with a p ositive history of hypertension show alterations in lipid metabolism s uggesting a positive correlation between lipid metabolism and hyperten sion heredity.